Plaintiff Kai-Lin Chang appeals from a grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant and respondent Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG). Chang sued SCPMG over a vehicular accident allegedly caused by SCPMG employee Brittany A. Doremus while she was driving to work in the morning. The trial court ruled SCPMG was entitled to summary judgment under the “going and coming rule,” which exempts employers from liability for employee torts committed while commuting to and from work.
On appeal, Chang contends the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because SCPMG failed to offer admissible evidence negating the possibility Doremus was talking or texting with coworkers on her employer-issued cell phone at the time of the accident. Alternatively, Chang argues the going and coming rule should not apply because SCPMG allowed Doremus to work from home as well as at her office, and thus she was not commuting but traveling between job sites.
It was not SCPMG’s burden to negate all possibility Doremus was working at the time of the accident. It was sufficient that SCPMG made a prima facie showing Doremus was not working, a burden SCPMG met through Doremus’s deposition testimony. The burden then shifted to Chang to provide contradictory evidence demonstrating a triable issue. Chang did not meet this burden.
We disagree that Doremus sometimes working from home converted her home to a second worksite for all purposes. Her uncontradicted testimony established that on Mondays, the day of the week the accident occurred, she did not work from home but at her office. Thus, at the time of the accident, she was engaged in an ordinary morning commute, not transitioning between worksites.
Accordingly, we affirm.
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